Perhaps he should stop right there. In his fifth season,
he’s simply become too valuable a hitter swinging away.

Take Saturday night, for example. In the sixth inning,
Andrus executed a perfect sacrifice bunt, and a Rangers’ rally proceeded to
mostly fizzle. Two innings later, forced to swing away with two outs, he showed
enough strength to push a ball to right field to drive home the go-ahead run in
a 3-1 win over Seattle.

Andrus also had a pretty big hand in the Rangers’ final
run. After he singled, he stole second and went to third on the same pitch when
it got away from catcher Kelly Shoppach. He scored on Adrian Beltre’s single.

Two innings earlier, following Andrus’ bunt, the Mariners
had simply pitched around Beltre and escaped the inning allowing only a run,
which scored on a double play.

“He’s always been a big-time player,” said Rangers manager
Ron Washington, who put the bunt play on in the sixth inning. “As he gets older
and smarter, he becomes better and better.”

The bunt on Saturday was the 64th sacrifice of Andrus’
career, leaving him one behind Bert Campaneris for the second most in Rangers
history. Jim Sundberg is the record-holder with 102.

As he ages, though, Andrus’ opportunities should decline.
He’s more of a threat now to drive a runner in than he is to simply move a
runner.

The hit was Andrus’ third with runners in scoring position
and two outs this year. A year ago, he hit .364 in those situations, compared
to .287 over his first three seasons.

Washington already has told Andrus to not worry about
bunting, particularly just to move runners, early in the game. He told him that
a year ago. But Andrus still does it occasionally. He did it on Tuesday after
Ian Kinsler was hit by Tampa Bay’s Roberto Hernandez to start the bottom of the
first. The rally, however, ended with Kinsler at second.

“He doesn’t want me to do it,” Andrus said of the early
Tuesday bunt attempt. “He wants me to drive the ball. I might do it later in
the game in a big situation, but he doesn’t want me to do that early. I was
just trying to create something. Sometimes a good bunt can make all the
difference.”

After rookie Leury Garcia, making his first start,
delivered the first hit of his career to start the sixth and Kinsler followed
by reaching on shortstop Brendan Ryan’s error, Andrus bunted the two to second
and third. With the Rangers down by a run, it put the tying and go-ahead runs
in scoring position for No. 3 hitter Beltre.

Seattle, however, walked Beltre intentionally to load the
bases, then turned Nelson Cruz’s soft liner to first, which Justin Smoak
dropped, into an awkward-looking double play. However, it gave Garcia time
enough to score the tying run.

“When he does put the bunt on, I’m going to do my job,”
Andrus said.

Bunting and moving runners: The Rangers now have other
guys for that.

Guys such as Garcia. In the eighth, after Craig Gentry led
off with a walk against reliever Carter Capps, the Rangers put the hit-and-run
on for Garcia. He bounced a ball up the middle. With Gentry on the move,
Seattle’s only play was to first.

“He did a very good job,” Washington said of Garcia, who
also made two sharp plays in the infield at shortstop since Andrus was the DH.
“He didn’t show any nerves. He put the ball in play on that hit-and-run. I told
him afterward how proud I was of him.”

After Kinsler popped up, Andrus muscled a fastball in over
first base to drive Gentry home with the go-ahead run.

Andrus is growing up. His role is changing. The bunt may
become a thing of the past for him. His at-bats are simply too valuable for the
Rangers.

Catch Evan Grant’s Ranger Reports all season on The Ticket (KTCK-1310 AM) on Tuesdays at 9:35 a.m. with The Musers, Wednesdays at 4:15 p.m. with The Hardline and Thursdays at 2:15 p.m. with BaDD Radio.

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